India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade announced a new online platform for filing electronic, paperless applications for Issuance of Replenishment Authorizations for Gems and Consumables. Beginning Feb. 21, anyone seeking a Replenishment Authorization for Gems and Consumables can find the application portal on the DGFT website under the "services" tab. Regional authorities will continue to process applications submitted through legacy systems prior to Feb. 21.
USDA is seeing “rising” opportunities for U.S. exporters of breeding pigs to Hong Kong, the agency's Foreign Agricultural Service said in a Feb. 14 report. Due to many recent global cases of African swine fever, Hong Kong farms are increasingly searching for “good breeding pigs” to better compete with mainland China, USDA said. The agency said the farms have “confidence and high regard in U.S. breeding stock’s animal health, growth rate, and meat quality” but see transportation costs as a drawback. USDA also said Hong Kong farmers “tend to be very traditional” and generally prefer not to change suppliers once “they start a business relationship and the supplies are found to be satisfactory.”
Sri Lanka Customs recently launched a Compliant Economic Operator and Authorized Economic Operator program, which is expected to help it more quickly move, release and clear goods, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb.14. Traders can now apply for CEO/AEO status in Sri Lanka and benefit from various customs privileges, including “fewer physical inspections, faster customs release, and less documentation and data requirements,” HKTDC said.
India temporarily revoked certain antidumping duties on various steel products from China, Vietnam, South Korea, Brazil and Germany, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council reported Feb. 11. The changes, which took effect Feb. 1 and remain in place until Sept. 30, suspend duties on imported rods, alloy steel bars and flat steel products “plated or coated with zinc or aluminum,” the report said. India also permanently revoked countervailing duties on certain imported hot‑rolled and cold‑rolled stainless steel flat products from China as well as customs duty reductions for “long, flat and semi‑finished products of stainless steel, alloy and non‑alloy.” The country also extended an import duty exemption on steel scraps for another year to “help smaller manufacturers,” HKTDC said.
Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and its Ministry of Finance began an expiry review of the antidumping duties on polyethylene terephthalate with a high degree of polymerization from China, METI said in a Feb. 10 notice. Dumping rates ranging from 39.8% to 53% are set to expire on Dec. 27.
India set the import quota numbers of calcined pet coke (CPC) for use in the aluminum industry and raw pet coke for the CPC manufacturing industry for 2022-2023, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said Feb. 10. The amount of CPC imported cannot exceed 0.5 million metric tons per annum, and the amount of raw pet coke cannot exceed 1.4 million metric tons, the DGFT said. These numbers were set in a 2018 Indian Supreme Court decision. Completed import applications must be submitted on or before Feb. 28, the notice said. All quantity left unused will be deducted from the quota for the next year.
India banned the import of drones, listed under Harmonized Schedule Code 8806, with exceptions provided for research and development, defense and security purposes, India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade said Feb. 9. The import policy of drone parts, however, is listed as free. In particular, India prohibited the import of drones in "Completely-Built-Up," "Semi-knocked-down" or "Completely-Knocked-down" form. The action followed changes implemented with the passage of the 2021 Finance Act.
Q4 revenue at China’s largest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, jumped 61.1% year over year to $1.58 billion, and its quarterly profit was $552.8 million, increasing 212.7% from Q4 2020, despite being added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List in December 2020 (see 2012180039), the company reported Feb. 10. It was an “exceptional year in SMIC's development history,” it said. The global shortage of chips and the strong demand for “local and indigenous manufacturing” brought SMIC “a rare opportunity,” while the U.S. export restrictions of the entity list “set many obstacles to the Company's development,” it said. “Focusing on the primary task of ensuring operation continuity, meeting customer demand, and alleviating the supply chain shortage, the Company rose to the challenge, tackled difficulties precisely and achieved sound performance.”
China began clearing Vietnamese fruit container trucks through customs a few days earlier than expected after having said it would halt customs clearance for goods coming from the Lang Son province in Vietnam Jan. 31 to Feb. 6 for the Lunar New Year. However, China resumed standard customs clearance Feb. 3, allowing 115 fruit exporting containers to enter the country, the Vietnamese state-run CustomsNews reported. Two of Lang Son province's three border gates to China resumed customs operations (see 2112290015).
China objected to the U.S. decision to add 33 Chinese entities to its Unverified List, it said in a Feb. 7 news release. The Bureau of Industry and Security made the additions, which included universities and companies operating in China's technology and electronics sectors, due to its inability to verify the reliability of the entities through end-use checks (see 2202070012). According to an unofficial translation, China's Ministry of Commerce said that the U.S. should immediately correct its perceived wrongdoing and return to mutual beneficial cooperation. MofCom characterized this action, along with the U.S. past export control moves, as tools of "political suppression and economic bullying." A BIS spokesperson dubbed its end-use checks a "core principle" of the agency's export control system.